A Little One-on-One

I went in to the gym at 6 this morning – wanted to get in a really good warm up and get mobilized before class started at 6:30. The group warm ups that we do never seem to get my hips mobilized enough. Tis the doom of hypermobility I suppose – just takes more to work my entire range of motion.

So I hung upside down from the thai bags for a bit, then spent 45 minutes getting everything moving because no one else showed up for class! I was very sad because I was so ready to roll (literally!).

This ended up working to my favor though because coach came over and gave me some one on one training in maintaining mount control. Some of the things I learned:

Never posture up unless you already have a cross grip and are going for it. Easier to get rolled that way.

Keep hands/elbows on mat while low. If they try to shrimp out, swim the hand under the head to prevent movement. “Control the head, control the movement”.

If they try to bridge out, tuck your feet under their butt and hip down to control.

Welcome anyone who tries to grab your collar. This leaves them open to an armbar: their right hand goes up, place your palms on their chest (right under, left over their right arm). Do a push up and swing your left leg over their face and land your hips on the mat to their right, then rip their arm out.

If they try to go on their side, let them. Pop into fat boy and start going for the collar or arm lock. If they pop down, they’re either gonna give you mount or their back.

Can’t wait to try out some of this stuff!

The 10:00 class consisted of myself, 2 black belts, 2 purple belts, and 2 other white belts. Guess who got left out of the mix? I understand though. It’s the competition team training class and the upper level belts wanna have at it. And the white belts were big new guys – and I don’t wanna get hurt.

I enjoyed watching, but then a brown belt I hadn’t met showed up and sat down to watch. So I asked him if he wanted to play and he said “sure”.

Twas a fun couple of rolls. He told me I have great grips and hip movements. And I almost got him by sliding out the back of a deep half guard – need to get a little faster at that one.

This guy actually ended up teaching my 11:30 class. We went over a knee on belly escape drill that works really well. Say they’re at your right side with their right knee in your gut:

Pendulum swing your legs to the right.

Left hand reaches under their right knee (on belly) and grabs your own left leg.

Right hand grabs their left pant leg while left leg swings up toward their left leg.

Simply load them up, then pitch them to your left – without letting go of their left pant leg.

Left hand pushes their other knee down and you have side control.

Sounds complicated – isn’t really.

I managed to tweak a rib and had to sit out of rolling. But I got it back in pretty easily, kinesiotaped it, and am doped up on anti-inflammatories. Should be all good for tomorrow.